1. Ruins of an abode which lamentations have made desolate,
I asked of them, but when they were foreign they were dumb.

2. I wondered, for when disaster was hard upon them
The mourners had become many, yet they were mute.

3. They would chant elegies if they heard a strain of music
And melodies of flutes, but they said not a word.

4. The blackened earth shone white,
And the white earth was dyed black.

5. There grew for Abu Bakr an eloquent tongue
That it might speak of him with exactitude and embrace all.

6. Like the son of Layla when the interiors of the litter are unveiled
From the terror that has made the stout-hearted tremble.

7. When a well-shaped product is dyed with an Arabic dye
Like the hue of paint—an unopened rose.

8. Slippered feet that do not change their sandals,
Soft, plaited, that leave no trace.

9. Cast away, it pleases not even the dogs with its smell,
But, set down in an assembly, it perfumes the general air.

10. He is the man who shows no grief for a misfortune
Nor joy on a day when the soul feels happy.

11. Few failings, observant of his oath,
And if failings come from him, excellent.

12. Forbearing, generous, of great deliberation and calm,
Discerning when the rope of trial grows taut.

13. You rectified an unkempt situation which occurred between two disputants
Before they separated, and gathered it together.

14. You healed it: the word did not injure its bone,
Had you been absent from it, it would have festered and rotted.

15. Gloomy cares for the pruning bird if it attempts
Harm against the wronged - you repelled it.

16. Those in need come back from him when there appears
Nothing to hope for but fine raiment.

17. The roaming camels feel at home with him
Instead of those who have been sent far away.

18. So I shall not, as long as I live, forget
Bones, nor one who has been reduced to bones.

19. Between Babylon and Hathb there blew because of him
Winds that carried fragrance and wafted perfumes.

20. The valleys and the winds sent in his wake
A successor lofty of ascent when the tomb gathered itself together.